This week, we wear the Torah portion of Behaalotecha.

Aaron, the high priest, is commanded in lighting the menorah in the Sanctuary and the Levites begin their service alongside the Kohanim. The second Passover is instituted and the Jews finally move from where they're camping at Mount Sinai. 

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The Jews complain about the Mannah and request meat. Moshe appoints seventy elders to assist him with the burden of leadership. Moshe’s sister Miriam speaks negatively about her brother and gets punished with leprosy. Moshe prays for her healing and the entire community waits seven days for her to heal before continuing their journey.

Miriam was one of the seven prophetesses in Jewish history. In the Torah, when speaking about the Jews in Egypt, she is referred to as Puah the midwife. She is the one that convinced her mother to have another child, for she knew that the baby would be the one to lead the Jews to freedom. After Moshe was born, she was the one who watched and protected him by the Nile river. 

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This is why when she was struck with leprosy in the desert, her brother commanded the entire Jewish camp to wait for her, just like she waited for him as a baby. 

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The Menorah that Aaron lit is a symbol of the mission statement of the Jewish people. The word the Torah uses to describe the lighting of the Menorah, behaalotecha, means “to lift up.” Rashi offers two explanations for this word. The first is that Aaron had to kindle the lamp until the flame rose on its own and the second is that there was a step in front of the menorah that was climbed in order to kindle it.

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This teaches us that when we seek to inspire others, it is not enough to bring our flame close to theirs and allow them to be affected by our excitement and passion. To “lift up” the flame is to share the fire until the student is inspired and passionate on their own.

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The second explanation teaches us that the surest path to elevate oneself is to inspire others. While the natural tendency of someone who seeks to grow spiritually may be to focus inward, the Torah teaches us that by preparing to ignite someone else’s flame, you too will rise up, you too will be inspired.

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Menachem Feldman

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Each of us has a little spark of Moshe inside of us that gives us the power we need to live our lives as Jews and get through the darker times.

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When it comes to the Redemption, It is not so much that we need to be taken out of exile. That, the leader of the generation can do, the same way that Moshe took the Jews out of Egypt. It is that the exile mentality must be taken out of us. For that, each one must find Moshe within us and use it to its fullest potential.

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Although the Jews had been taken out of Egypt, given the Torah and the Mannah, they still lacked gratitude and complained about not having meat. 

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It was a hard day and I decided that I would pick up dinner instead of cooking it. As I drove to the supermarket, I thanked G-d that despite my car needing repairs, it got me to my destination. Once I chose my food I went to the cash register to pay, only to realise I didn't have my wallet, I was so embarrassed. Behind me, the store owner appeared and kindly told me to take the food anyways. “It's on the house tonight,” he said as he handed me an extra chocolate bar. 

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When I arrived home, I saw that my overgrown front lawn had just been mowed by my next door neighbor. I jumped out of my car and asked how much I owed him,  to which he replied that it was simply a favor. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for all the good in my life.  I silently mouthed a prayer, content in that minute to simply have a roof over our head thinking “Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.”

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Life is full of these teaching moments. I will never be able to look at a rotisserie chicken without recalling the generosity of a complete stranger, or being thankful for a neighbor’s kindness. I have learned that the first prayer we are instructed to say when we wake up is, “I give thanks” (Modeh Ani) and the word “ Yehud - Jew” comes from the root of that same word, modeh. The concept of gratitude is directly embedded into who we are as a people.

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Practicing gratitude—hakarat hatov—can be inspired by something as humble as a free chicken, but inside that spiritual act is the grounding of kindness and grace that will help us tread the path of an incredibly complex and miraculous world.

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Sefira Lightstone

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